City News

A state-mandated recount of Yuma’s close election for City Council confirms that Karen Watts has been elected to the third and final seat, the City learned Tuesday.

In fact, the recount tallied votes identically to the original final count.

The margin between Watts and fellow candidate Gregory Counts was only five votes when tallies of the Nov. 7 general election were released. Per Arizona law, that triggered an automatic recount.

The Council canvassed the election Nov. 15 and issued a finding of fact which identified the need for a recount and referred it to the court. The case went to Yuma County Superior Court Judge Larry Kenworthy, who ordered Yuma County’s elections board to conduct the recount.

“The identical vote tally between the final results and the recount instills confidence in both the process and vote count for our local elections,” noted City Administrator Greg Wilkinson. “The other lesson from this is, every vote counts.”